PLN says Sumatra blackout differs from effects of the Aceh disaster

Jakarta – PLN (Persero) has stated that the blackout across much of Sumatra on Friday night (22 May 2026) was different from the outages following the Aceh disaster. Areas affected included Aceh, North Sumatra, South Sumatra and Jambi.

‘This is a very different situation from the disaster in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh at that time,’ said Darmawan Prasodjo, the President Director of PLN (Persero), at a press conference in Jakarta, as quoted from YouTube Kompas TV, on Saturday 23 May 2026.

However, the outage this time was not caused by damage to infrastructure on towers or transmission networks.

‘Today we can say that our main substations and transmission system have recovered,’ he said.

Based on preliminary identification, the power outage was triggered by severe weather in the Jambi region. PLN identified an initial indication that the 275 kV transmission corridor between Muara Bungo and Sungai Rumbai was affected by severe weather. As a result, the transmission system at that point disconnected from the Sumatra electricity grid.

The loss of electricity network caused several PLN generating plants to experience an oversupply. At the same time, other plants carried too heavy a load. ‘The plants automatically disconnected from the system, or in lay terms, shut down automatically,’ Darmawan said.

PLN said it had mobilised all resources to inspect the main substations and transmission system. ‘Alhamdulillah within about two hours, the entire main substation and transmission system could be restored,’ he added.